FMBG Product FaceMe Backgammon Game Center Tips

FaceMe Backgammon uses the Apple Game Center servers to coordinate and play games between Game Center users. Please complete the following steps to ensure a problem free experience: create a Game Center account, configure the account, configure the iOS notification settings, send friends invites, and then play a game. Note that FaceMe Backgammon required iOS 4.2 or higher to play Game Center games.

Creating the Game Center Account

There are two ways to create a Game Center account: use the Game Center menu that comes up when FaceMe Backgammon starts, or use the Game Center application that ships with your device. If you cancel the menu twice from FaceMe Backgammon, it will no longer be displayed.

To create an account, follow the Game Center New Account prompts and validate your account by clicking on the link sent to your e-mail address.

Configuring the Game Center Account

To ensure that your account works properly with FaceMe Backgammon, you must be able to receive Game Invites. To ensure this capability is enabled, verify the following:

  1. Start the Game Center app and log in with your account e-mail address and password.
  2. On the "Me" page, tap the button called: "Account: your@email" then select View Account from the menu that pops up.
  3. Turn ON the "Allow Game Invites" setting. You may also want to turn on the "Find Me By Email" setting to make it easier for friends to connect to you.

Configuring the iOS Notifications Settings

To ensure that you can receive Game Center Invites from your friends, you must enable Notifications on your device. To do this, perform the following steps:

  1. Start the iOS Settings Application and tap the Notifications setting.
  2. Ensure that the overall Notifications is turned ON.
  3. Tap on the Game Center Item and make sure that at least "Alerts" is turned ON.

Configuring the iOS Restrictions Settings

If you enabled Restriction on your device to prevent people from using certain apps, you may have also disabled the Game Center settings for playing Multiplayer games and adding friends. Perform the following steps to ensure the settings are correct:

  1. Start the iOS Settings Application and tap the General settings button.
  2. Find the Restrictions button and if it says Off you are done.
  3. If Restrictions are On, then tap the Restrictions button and scroll to the Game Center section.
  4. Ensure that both Multiplayer Games and Adding Friends are enabled.

Sending Friend Invites to your Game Center friends

Before you can invite a friend to a game of FaceMe Backgammon, they must already be listed as a Game Center friend. To add a friend, follow these steps:

  1. Start the Game Center app and go to the "Friends" tab.
  2. Tap the "+" plus button to add a new friend.
  3. Enter their e-mail address they used for their Game Center account, or their Game Center nickname and press "Send".
  4. Once they accept the Invite, they will appear in your Friends list in FaceMe Backgammon.

You can also send Game Center Invites from the Chat view while playing a FaceMe Backgammon Game Center match. This is useful when you are playing an Auto-Match and found a player you would like to play again.

Playing a Game Center game with a Friend

To invite a Game Center friend to a FaceMe Backgammon match, follow these steps:

  1. Start FaceMe Backgammon and tap the "Game Center - nickname" button once it becomes enabled. It might take a few seconds for the Game Center login to take place.
  2. Find your friend's name in the "Invite a Friend" list and tap it.
  3. Select the match length desired and tap OK - Game Center games always have Doubling enabled.
  4. Follow the prompts and "Send" the game invite.
  5. Your friend will receive a prompt with your invitation. Once they accept it, the word "Ready" appears next to their nickname and now you can tap "Play Now" to start the game.
  6. Your friend will now receive a second prompt with the match length and your FIBS score and Experience. Once they accept, the match starts.

Playing a Game Center Auto-Match Game

There are three match lengths that you can play using Auto-Match: 1-point, 3-point and 5-point. If you want to play a specific match length, select it using the "Auto-Match Length" control and tap the "Find a n-point match" button. If you would like to play any match length, select the "Any" option and the algorithm will look for any other player that wants to play at that time.

At this point, you can either continue to wait, or you can press the Notify Me button and play local games until a player is found. When the opponent is found, you will be informed of the match and the Game Center match will start. You local game will be aborted and no score will be recorded.

Memory Management Tips

When applications start behaving improperly either by slowing down, failing to connect to the network, or crashing, you may have a memory problem. Starting with iOS 4.0, applications are no longer closed when the user presses the Home button and instead they are put in the background where they continue to use up memory even though they are not running. This can cause a significant problem especially on devices with small memory such as the iPad and some of the older iPhone and iPod Touch devices.

There are two simple solutions to this problem. The first is to reboot your device on a regular basis. This closes all the applications and clears the memory allowing the device to once again perform optimally. The second is to fully close the applications that are running in the background. This works quite well but you should still reboot your device at least once a week.

Restarting the device

To restart your device perform the following steps:

  1. Exit the current application you are running by pressing the Home button.
  2. Press and hold the button on top of the device until you see "slide to power off" option appear on the screen.
  3. Slide the red button to the right to turn off the device
  4. Press the top button once again and hold it for a couple of seconds, to start up the device.

Fully closing applications

Fully closing an application release its memory and resources and makes them available to other applications to use. This is very helpful especially for games as they tend to use more graphics and hence more memory. Follow these steps to close as many apps as possible:

  1. Put the current running app in the background by pressing the Home button.
  2. Double tap the Home button to bring up the Task Manager.
  3. Pick an app icon, press it and hold until it starts shaking and a (-) button appears.
  4. Press the (-) minus button to close the app.
  5. Repeat step 4. with as many apps as possible to free up as much memory as possible.
  6. Tap the Home button to return to normal mode.